2022
FOGHORN
June 2022 Twobirds Flying Publications
SIG SAUER’S P365 XL Manual Safety
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SIG SAUER’S P365 XL Manual Safety By: Sal Palma
SIG SAUER is a global firearms supplier whose products have established a reputation for quality, excellence in design and professional support. This is a reputation that has been earned over years of experience. In July of 2019 SIG introduced the P365 XL in two variants, without a manual safety or with a manual safety. The P365 XL with a 12+1 capacity and moderately larger frame size provided conceal carry customers with a larger frame size; therefore, more comfortable, and easier to control under recoil. When SIG introduced the P365 XL they hit a homerun, and the manual safety for me was icing on the cake, a feature that I’m intimately familiar with from military service. Carrying a pistol with a round in the chamber opens the door to an accidental discharge of the weapon; possibly harming oneself. Sadly, it has happened way too many times, and a manual safety, when used, mitigates the risk, especially under stress. I fall in the category of shooter who likes manual safeties. So having an opportunity
to review the P365 XL so equipped was a lot of fun for me. The P365 XL has been around long enough to establish a well-deserved reputation, so in this review, I’ll avoid rehashing all the well know positives; instead, my review will be all about me and my interaction with one of the best conceal carry platforms on the market. My initial range session with the “off-the-shelf” P365 XL revealed a compact conceal carry platform with a snappy recoil. Grip size was an issue for me; fortunately, SIG designers created a pistol with exchangeable grip modules. Simply stated, the fire control group can be easily removed and installed on a different grip module; making it possible to customize the pistol for things like color, grip size and texture. A grip module is nothing more than a polymer housing that accepts the fire control group, which is the actual firearm. The standard P365 XL grip is nicely textured, but it is a bit small for my hand making the pistol harder to control under recoil. After some research, I learned about the Wilson Compat grip module for the P365 XL, and that was just what the doctor ordered.
P365 XL grip module top / Wilson Combat bottom
Copyright 2022, Towbirds Flying Publications. All Rights Reserved.
Wilson Combat’s offering is noticeably larger and provides an excellent purchase. Wilson Combat sells two versions of their grip module, one for the standard P365 XL, no manual safety, another for the manual safety model. Installing the fire control group was a snap and just that one change greatly improved comfort and control.
extended safety selector. However, keep in mind that the pistol is designed for conceal carry so extended anything could get caught on clothing, just my analysis. The problem I encountered using the original version of the pistol was the slimer SIG grip placed my thumb so far forward that I was operating the safety with the fleshy web between my thumb and index finger; making it difficult to operate the selector. The larger Wilson Combat grip module solved that problem as well.
One of the criticisms leveled at the P365 XL is how difficult it is to seat a full magazine, i.e., 12 rounds, with a closed slide. That difficulty stems from its flared magazine well, a problem that can be easily resolved by smacking the magazine close to the floor plate toe. The issue is also common with the Wilson Combat grip module resolved using that technique. There’s no need to limit your magazine to loads to 11 rounds, one good smack and you’re good to go. A second complaint owners of the original P365 XL have expressed is the manual safety size, most shooters that I’ve spoken to prefer an
My second range session was with the now modified P365 XL to include a red dot sight. The pistol ran flawlessly with much improved comfort and control. Recoil was still snappy, but the larger grip module made it much more manageable. All my shooting was done at 15 yards. I needed to zero the Holosun sight, which put me on target for all subsequent shots except for the flyer high and right.
Copyright 2022, Towbirds Flying Publications. All Rights Reserved.
The P365 XL is not a target pistol, it’s a compact conceal carry defensive weapon that is extremely reliable with any 9mm ammunition I used. SIG did hit a homerun with the introduction of the P365 XL, but whether you like, or dislike, a manual safety, the pistol is without a doubt one of the top compact conceal carry pistols on the market. Ergonomics, magazine capacity, reliability and its customizability make SIG’s P365 XL a top pick for anyone in the CCW market.
-SP
Model Specifications: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
SKU: 365XL-9-BXR3-MS CALIBER: 9mm MAGS INCLUDED: (2) 12rd Steel Mag SIGHTS: Optic Ready with X-RAY3 Day/Night Sights THREADED BARREL NO PISTOL SIZE: Micro-Compact OVERALL LENGTH: 6.6 in [168 mm] OVERALL WIDTH: 1.1 in [28 mm] HEIGHT: 4.8 in (122 mm) BARREL LENGTH: 3.7 in (94 mm) WEIGHT: 20.7 oz (588 g) SIGHT RADIUS: 5.6 in (142 mm) ACCESSORY RAIL: Sig Rail TRIGGER ACTION: Striker TRIGGER TYPE: XSeries Straight GRIP TYPE: Polymer GRIP COLOR: Black BARREL MATERIAL: Carbon Steel FRAME FINISH: Stainless Steel FRAME MATERIAL: Stainless Steel SLIDE FINISH: Nitron SLIDE MATERIAL: Stainless Steel OPTIC READY: Yes
Copyright 2022, Towbirds Flying Publications. All Rights Reserved.